1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to network-based computer security and, more particularly, methods of and systems for authenticating a device for computer network security.
2. Description of the Related Art
Device identification through device keys, i.e., though a collection of hardware and system configuration attributes, has proven to be invaluable in recent years to such technologies as security and digital rights management. In security, authentication of a person can be restricted to a limited number of previously authorized devices that are recognized by their device keys. In digital rights management, use of copyrighted or otherwise proprietary subject matter can be similarly restricted to a limited number of previously authorized devices that are recognized by their device keys.
Device keys, sometimes referred to as digital fingerprints, should be globally unique and difficult to spoof. Accordingly, IP and MAC addresses make insecure identifiers. In addition, some operating systems limit access to device configuration details, making derivation of a globally unique identifiers of a large population of similar devices particularly challenging.
What is needed is a way to identify and authenticate a device using information of the device that is highly likely to be unique and is accessible to user space applications.